William Tavington

William Tavington (1743-1780) was a Colonel in the British Army and the commander of the Green Dragoons during the American Revolutionary War. Tavington, the son of a nobleman who squandered his family's esteem and money, was nicknamed "the Butcher" by the populace of South Carolina for his brutal tactics. In 1780, he was sent to hunt down the guerrilla leader Benjamin Martin in exchange for property in Ohio, only to be killed at the Battle of Cowpens, avenging the deaths of two of Martin's sons at Tavington's hands.

Biography
William Tavington was born in England in 1743 to an esteemed family. His father squandered any esteem that the family held as well as William's inheritance, and Tavington decided to enlist in the British Army. Tavington became known as a charismatic sociopath, but he was nevertheless made a colonel and given command of the Green Dragoons in Charles Cornwallis' army during the American Revolutionary War. Tavington was known to charge into battle without being given the order to do so, and he used brutal tactics such as harming civilians, burning down the homes of supporters of the patriots, and killing surrendering soldiers. Tavington slaughtered fleeing American troops at the Battle of Camden in 1780, and he was tasked with hunting down Benjamin Martin's guerrillas in late 1780 after Martin managed to free several American prisoners from Fort Carolina in a ruse of war. Tavington had the family's Santee plantation burned to the ground and had the servants killed, and he later had his men go town to town and kill the families of militiamen. At the town of Pembroke, he had the entire town population locked into the church, which was then burnt down by his subordinate James Wilkins and the rest of his unit. Continental Army corporal Gabriel Martin, the husband of one of the victims in the church, the son of Benjamin Martin, and the brother of a boy who had been shot by Tavington in an attempt to rescue the captive Gabriel earlier that year, led his group of militiamen to attack Tavington's men at Black Swamp, hoping to kill Tavington. Tavington was the only survivor of the British force, but he managed to kill all of the Americans, including Gabriel, after fooling Gabriel into thinking that a musket shot had killed him. Not long after, Tavington was again on the battlefield, this time at the Battle of Cowpens. He led another charge without orders, and he found himself facing Martin in a duel with swords and muskets. Tavington severely wounded Martin and attempted to deliver the coup de grace with his saber, but Martin dodged it and stabbed Tavington in the neck with his bayonet, killing him.